Sections

Popular Festivals

Jane Horrocks has revealed plans to cover a series of post-punk tracks, beginning with Joy Division.

For a while there, Jane Horrocks was one of the biggest stars in the country. After a chance discovery led to her starring in the stage play 'The Rise and Fall of Little Voice' the actress spent the best part of the 90s dominating the charts with her take on divas such as Judy Garland and Shirley Bassey.

Still an in demand actress, the Lancashire born performer has decided to re-visit her roots. Launching a new project, Jane Horrocks intends to cover a number of classic post-punk tracks using a variety of guest musicians.

"I’m a massive fan of Joy Division, I love their music - particularly the lyrics" she told The Scotsman. "So that’s why I chose them - mainly because I’m a fan."

The project seemingly began with her role in the musical 'Sunshine On Leith' in which Horrocks performed the songs of The Proclaimers. "I thought they were so interesting with female voices, and I thought you heard the lyrics in a totally different way, and I thought I’d like to do that with a couple of my favourite songs - and these are indeed my favourite songs."

Continuing, Jane Horrocks emphasised the DIY nature of the project. "At the moment I’ve no plans to release a physical copy, but I’m going to see how it goes on iTunes first, and possibly do something like release a 7-inch - do an A and B-side."

"I’ve self-funded it, and am self-publicising it as well. It’s cost quite a lot of money to make the records anyway. I’ve got decent people playing on it and I got a very good producer, so I kind of don’t want to spend any more money on a publicity person."

Asked which other songs she would like to cover, Horrocks replied: "'Hashish' by Hawkwind, and 'Nag Nag Nag' by Cabaret Voltaire - that’s an old 80s song. They used to play it in the clubs that I used to go to, and it’s only got one lyric, which is ‘nag nag nag’. I would like to do more - if anybody ever came forward and said ‘do an album with me’ that would be great, because I can think of a lot of other songs I’d like to do as well, but they’re kind of a bit out-there."

The recordings begin with a re-envisioning of Joy Division's 'Isolation'. A faithful rendering, the recording features Rat Scabies of The Damned on drums. "My good friend (the brilliant music producer) 'Kipper' helped me to realise this new version of the song with the distinctive drums of Mr Rat Scabies (late of The Damned) and the heavy bass of Scott Firth (now of PIL). Cameron Crag mixed the track for us and helped present the lyrics in a very different way, accenting their vulnerability and simple poetic beauty."